Blogs from Antarctica, Antarctica - page 23

I get my first texts in Argentina and the Benelux contingent have made it and are at the hotel. So I make my own way from the airport, its only 30 mins and Carlos has done a great job in preparations telling us which taxi company to use and booking a nice hotel - lucky to have a team member who lives in Buenos Aires. At the hotel we all meet up in the lobby and head for a walking tour of the city that Carlos's secretary recommended - see the pictures! There is so much energy in the group and we are all comparing stories and getting to know each other, it feels like I have met everyone loads of times but we had all just met for 3 days in Amsterdam. Its a good ... read more

Oh mi god! Was an awesome place. Am sitting in the hostal in Lima so thought I better make an entry and load some photos. Had an incredible trip to Antarctica - had brilliant weather, calm seas (relatively speaking), some fab landings and a few dives in 0 degree water!!!! Although rolled off the boat after 11 days of 2 course lunches and dinners and full cooked breakfasts! We departed Ushuaia on fri 27 feb in the evening and went out through the Beagle Channel (very calm). We entered the notorious Drake Passage round Cape Horn in the early hours of the morning - noticeable with the increasing waves and rolling side to side in the bunk bed! However our forecast was good and despite a number of people being sick, Marty and I managed admirably ... read more

In the end we had 4 days of landings on the Antarctic Peninsular and islands - our very first landing at Neko Harbour had been amazing simply because, wow - we're standing on Antarctica! But for me the highlight of the trip was the time we spent cruising icebergs in the zodiacs and our very last landing at Dorian Bay. The iceberg cruise was the second tour we'd done in the zodiacs. I'd found the first, to see glaciers, disappointing because I'd ended up with the group that pretty quickly decided they'd had enough and wanted to go back to the ship for a cup of tea. So whilst the others were out seeing a whale and watching a leopard seal kill a penguin, I was back on deck, slightly seething. This time though it was ... read more

Saturday morning as we were approaching Hope Bay there was a thick fog and you couldn't see much of anything. But when we got there at 7:30 A.M. the fog lifted and there was beautiful sunshine. This is the tip of the actual continent of Antarctica. Up until now we had been visiting islands. Hope Bay in the Antarctic Sound. The large research base is Esperanza Station. Built in 1975, the base houses 55 inhabitants in winter, including 10 families and 2 school teachers. There are 43 buildings in all. 4800 gallons of fuel are used annually by the 4 generators to produce electricity. Esperanza Base has some measure of fame because it is the birthplace of the first person to be born in Antarctica. Hope Bay on Trinity Peninsula, is 3 miles long and 2 ... read more

Friday morning we arrived at our first scenic stop in Antarctica, Elephant Island. This is my second visit to Antarctica. On New Years Eve 2006 I took a 12-hour scenic flight out of Sydney, Australia. We spent four hours circling the frozen continent aboard a Qantas 747. The plane never landed though, so this is my first time here at ground or sea level. Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean. Its name was given by early explorers sighting elephant seals on its shores. It lies 581 miles south of the Falkland Islands. The island has a maximum elevation of 2795 feet above sea level at Pardo Ridge. The island supports no significant flora or native fauna although ... read more